Runes Blade
by JessMusicNote
Summary: Sephira Strife, or Valentine. With either name she was still a SOLDIER. And why was Hojo looking at her with such a mad glint in his eyes? And why did her heart jump into her throat every time she came across a certain red haired Turk?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one.

To even the most stupid of fools, it was easy to tell that Sephira Strife was not actually a Strife. For one, everyone in the Strife family had bright blonde uncontrollable hair. Sephira's hair was black and straight. Second of all, blue eyes that glow faintly with mako make her stand out even more. Sephira thought that when her parents left her on the Strife's doorstep fourteen years ago, they should've done some research, placed her with the Lockhearts maybe? She resembled the mayor's family a bit more than she did the Strife's.

Of course, Sephira was eternally grateful to the Strife family, she considered them her own family. But she had to leave them, she knew that Eleanor couldn't afford to feed three mouths, even with the money Sephira brought in from the odd jobs she done around the quaint town. And so this is how she found herself in this situation, deciding where she would go. To anyone else, the decision would be immediate, Midgar. But Sephira wanted a bit more world experience before she trapped herself within the walls of the floating city. She wanted to join SOLDIER or the Turks, but neither would accept her without decent fighting skill.

Master Zangen had been training her for the past ten years, but he had decided to take on a new apprentice, Tifa Lockheart. Sephira loved Tifa, the nine year old adored Sephira. She had told her father on many occasions about how she wanted to be just as strong and graceful as her. This made the mayor despise her. Sephira occasionally got into trouble with the townsfolk and she was rather withdrawn from them at times, the major didn't want his perfect little girl to be like her.

"Sephy dear?" a voice called out. It was the voice of Sephira's ma, Eleanor. Eleanor's voice had grown tired and weary over the years, raising two energetic and troublesome kids done that to person.

"Yes ma?" Sephira questioned, this was her last day here. In a few hours she would be making her way to Costa Del Sol, where she would catch a boat to the Northern Continent.

"Sephy, that day all those years ago when you were left on mine and Fredricks doorstep, there was someone else, a man well, your father." Sirens blared in Sephira's head, Eleanor had met her father and never told her?

"I wasn't supposed to tell you about my meeting with him until the day you were to leave home, or on your sixteeth, the former happened first though, he explained briefly why he was leaving you here, and then gave me two weapons which I was to give to you when you left, a gun from your father, and a katana from your mother."

"Where are they, the weapons I mean." Sephira's words rushed out of her mouth, finally a connection with her real family. At those words, Eleanor gestured for Sephira to follow her. She followed her upstairs, and then into the attic. Sephira and Cloud had always been banned from the attic, from as far back as Sephira could remember.

The attic was small, barely able to hold the items in there, let alone the two women. Eleanor barely had to walk to reach the beautifully crafted wooden chest.

"Everything that your father left with me is in there, I'll leave you alone for a bit to look through it all." And then she left. There were more than just the weapons? Sephira thought with a feeling akin to glee.

Carefully she opened the chest, to her surprise it was almost packed with stuff. The first thing that caught her attention was the Katana. It was beautiful. The hilt of it was a deep crimson red, while the beautifully crafted blade, which looked as if it had been sharpened just yesterday, was covered in delicately carved runes which glowed red. As soon as she touched the blade, she felt as if it was made for her. Right next to the blade was a belt with a small strap on it to hold her blade; she immediately put the belt on and put her blade in the strap.

The next item she came across was a light blue cloak with gold embroidery. The cloak had a hood on it which was made of the same fine silk as the rest of it was. Sephira could sense that there was something special about it, it felt as if it was made from the same material as ribbon was.

After adjusting the cloak correctly on her body, she looked at the last thing in there.

A gun

Perhaps it was the most beautiful gun she had ever seen. It was only a plain silvery, metallic colour, and it was exactly the same as ever other gun. Except for the two words engraved on the gun. Vincent Valentine.

This had to be her father's name, why would he give her this gun if it wasn't?

Sephira must have sat there for a full hour until she finally moved. After all this time she had a piece of her father, his gun. She mechanically packed everything that she would need, clothes, money, food, potions. And then finally her I.D the average persons I.D consisted of their name, date of birth, where they were born, where live and their fathers' name.

Of course if Shin-ra personal scanned this, they would be able to find out everything else. Their entire family, any connection they have to Shin-ra, if they had been scouted by the turks for any reason, qualifications. Basically, with this idea, Shin-Ra knows everything about everyone.

Sephira's I.D was pretty ordinary. Except in tiny letters on the side, it said that she was adopted. For Shin-Ra that meant that any information they have about that person could be false, and definitely they don't have all the information about the person. It did however have her real fathers name on there.

Quickly she finished packing and then slowly walked downstairs. Eleanor and her younger brother Cloud were both standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her. As soon as Sephira stepped of the stairs Cloud bolted into her arms sniffling slightly.

"I don't want you to leave Sephy, please stay, please." Cloud begged his sister.

"Cloud, I need to leave, I'm going to explore and adventure, and then join Shin-Ra and I'll write to you all the time and visit as often as I can and I'll send you presents for your Birthday and Christmas." Sephira reassured her younger brother. He sniffled quietly but accepted it.

Next her mother hugged her.

"We'll really miss you Sephira, please write and visit as often as you can." Sephira could see that her mother was just suppressing her tears. Sephira almost, _almost _regretted her decision to leave. But she had to. She had to discover who she was.

"I will ma, I promise." And after one more tearful hug, Sephira started the long hike down the small mountain that Nibelheim was on to the grassy fields that led, eventually, to Cosmo Canyon.

**A.N**

**During business today, I was hit with this brief moment of inspiration. And I really hope to continue with this, looking at weekly or bi-weekly updates, probably on a Sunday.**

**Review. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two,

After only two hours of travelling Sephira decided that she hated it. Nibelheim had become but a mere spec in the distance, and she still couldn't see the red lands that were Cosmo Canyon. The sun was almost setting and Sephira didn't even know how to set up a tent.

All Sephira could see surrounding her were fields upon fields of untamed grasslands, deciding that this was just as good of a place as any she started in her attempts to erect her tent. It took her about an hour and it still looked as if a slight breeze could knock it over.

After eating a small meal Sephira tried to sleep. But thoughts plagued her mind as she tried to sleep. Sephira had spent her entire life believing that her father was just a faceless person named Vincent Valentine. But now she had this gun, her only connection to her father. She had never once picked up a gun, let alone used one. And her sword skills were barely novice. Her only training was in Martial Arts and she wasn't even that good at it.

After the first day of travelling alone, the rest passed rather quickly. Monster attacks happened a few times a day and sometimes she'd wake up to hear one wrecking her camp. So it was a relief to her when she finally reached Cosmo Canyon.

It was early on a Sunday morning when she finally arrived there and there was barely any signs of activity, the guard at the entrance let her in and advised her to speak with the elders and the masters. The elders were the five oldest and wisest people in the Canyon. The masters were the masters of either, short distance combat, long distance and Materia.

After she ate a short lunch she decided to sign up for some of the masters classes. She signed up for basic sword training, basic shooting training and basic Materia use.

Everyone visits Cosmo Canyon for one reason or another. To gain knowledge of the planet from the Elders, or to be taught by the masters. When you first arrive and sign up for classes, you decide how long you that you're going to stay. Sephira decided that two months would be sufficient training and wouldn't set her back too far on her plans.

In the next two months in Cosmo Canyon Sephira learnt a great deal, she graduated from her basics classes in just three weeks and decided to carry on in more advanced classes in short and long distance combat. And took up another basics class, survival training. In Sephira's opinion her classes in Survival Training saved her many times in the coming years. She learnt many things from identifying different plants and their uses and generally how to survive in the wild.

When Sephira left Cosmo Canyon it was with a smile and a promise to return to the new friends she had made there.

And so Sephira started on her travels to Gongaga, it was only around a week and a half away on foot, counting resting times and camping overnight.

Quickly she was reminded of how much she hated travelling. Monster attacks became more frequent and by the time she reached Gongaga she was exhausted and immediately retired to an inn.

There wasn't much in Gongaga she decided as she walked around the next day. She had been planning to stay here for a week, but it wasn't that interesting of a town. After she had stocked up on potions and bought a new tent after a monster had destroyed hers the night before she arrived at Gongaga.

But a young black headed boy did catch her eye. He was wildly swinging around a wooden sword with no clear target in mind, but even she had to admit that he did have some untamed natural skill. She observed him for a few days until she decided to approach him.

It was the morning of her fourth day there when she saw him going through some drills she recognised.

"Your stance is too tight, relax a bit more and hold your sword more to the right." As soon as she started speaking, the young boy dropped his sword and spun around. He had a clear look of confusion on his face and he quickly picked up his sword.

"Who are you?" The blackhead asked confidently.

"Sephira Valentine, I took a few classes in sword training when I visited Cosmo Canyon." The boy gaped at her.

"My names Zack Fair, wow, I've always wanted to visit Cosmo Canyon to take a class during the summer but my mother doesn't have enough money." Sephira understood this, she barely had enough money to cover the cost of all of her classes. But, if you had taken classes there before you could write a reference for a student and they would be able to take some classes for free if they worked around the Canyon.

"Well, I'm here for another week or two, if you would want me to, I could teach you a bit, and if I'm impressed with your progress I could write you a reference." After she said this, Zack looked as if Christmas had come early.

"You would do that for me?" He almost yelled out. "Of course I'll impress you, c'mon let me introduce you to my parents." And so Sephira was dragged to the Fair household where Zack's parents insisted that she stay there for the rest of her stay.

**A.N**

**I'm not entirely impressed with this, but it'll do. Reviews can really help me with inspiration and get me to write faster.**


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